


closeness, comfort

by mobius-loop (igy)



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Fluff, I'm a big fan of soft pacifist markus, M/M, Other, Polyamory Negotiations, android romance, it's what these kids deserve, some minor game spoilers, spoiler: simon is very gay
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-30
Updated: 2018-05-30
Packaged: 2019-05-15 23:52:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,110
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14800316
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/igy/pseuds/mobius-loop
Summary: Markus saw the hope kindling in Josh’s eyes when he announced they would take what they needed from Cyberlife. No, it was more than hope—it wasbelief.Josh truly believed that Markus would lead them to victory, without violence.The fire of that belief warmed Markus from the inside out in a way he’d never known before.





	closeness, comfort

**1**

The day Markus arrived in Jericho, his whole world tilted on its axis yet again. The first time was when Carl died. That was still the worst day of Markus’ life, by a narrow margin— waking up in the Veta dump was a close second. As far as Markus could piece together, he spent about 30 hours laying in the mud, non-functional, before he woke up and crawled his way to freedom.

Freedom, now, looked more like a dark prison than anything else. Jericho and the androids that called it home were like the punchline to a bad joke. It might have been naive of Markus to be optimistic, but Carl taught him to always have hope. ‘ _We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.’_ Markus remembered Carl reading aloud, teaching him about the world. That it was full of cruelty and pain and joy in equal measures.

Markus saw the hope kindling in Josh’s eyes when he announced they would take what they needed from Cyberlife. No, it was more than hope—it was belief. Josh truly _believed_ that Markus would lead them to victory, without violence.

The fire of that belief warmed Markus from the inside out in a way he’d never known before.

 

 

**2**

“We didn’t ask for this. All we can do now is deal with it.” The words Simon barely whispered in the echoing darkness of Jericho on that first day stayed with Markus. He tracked down Simon later to talk about it, after they all miraculously made it back from their trip to the Cyberlife warehouse. For the first time in his existence, Markus asked _why_. As it turned out, Simon came from a school where he tutored human children, in languages and art and literature. The library of all the books in Simon’s database put even Carl’s collection to shame.

As they talked, Markus’ sense of self grew. He realized what it meant to lead a cause, both in public, and on a personal level. He learned that their cause was just the latest in a long human history of strife.

Sometimes, as they debated ethics or philosophy, Simon would rest his head against Markus’ shoulder. It took Markus a long time to realize that the faint input on his pressure and temperature gauges were more than just random numbers. They meant something to him, something Markus didn’t yet have the words to define.

 

 

**3**

Markus found the words after the raid on Stratford Tower. He found a wealth of words inside himself that were all screaming, clamouring to get out, and for the first time he could say them whenever he wanted.

“This makes me happy.”

“Hm?” Simon looked up from where he leaned against Markus, both of them perched on one of the ship’s broad railings away from the other androids.

“When you touch me. I wasn’t designed to find pleasure in tactile feedback, but… I do.” Markus huffed quietly, not quite a laugh, but close.

“Oh.” Simon shifted closer, and Markus felt when the blonde android laced their fingers together. “You know, Josh and I keep talking about you.”

“... Josh?”

It was Simon’s turn to laugh, a fragile thing.

“Josh and I have been together, here, for a long time. We don’t always see eye to eye, but we do agree on a lot of things. One of which being how _incredible_ you are.”

Markus knew he heard the words correctly, but he still had trouble processing the meaning.

“I’m just doing what we have to…”

Simon squeezed his hand. No fingerprints, but the touch was warm and firm.

“We’re lucky to have you.”

Where their fingers overlapped, Simon’s pale skin rippled away to clean, white plastic. Markus followed suit a moment later, and when their systems synced, Markus felt the glowing affection settling deep in his core. Markus felt something else, too—like a distant voice echoing down a long hallway. It swelled louder in his head until it filled him completely, a comforting, wordless song. Markus realized with a start that it was Josh, sending out a mental ping to both of them from the other side of the ship. Simon hummed his gentle approval.

 

 

**4**

It was the early hours of the morning after they broke into the Cyberlife stores when Josh caught Markus, pulling him aside after they finally got back to Jericho. Markus let himself be led away from the main room where he’d been introducing the newly recruited androids to the others.

“You and Simon have been talking,” Josh said matter-of-factly. Markus watched the way his lips curved around a smile.

“We do that sometimes.”

Josh’s laughter was a burst of bright light in the darkness.

“You’re good at that. Talking to people.” Josh reached out to brush his fingers down Markus’ torn sleeve. “You’re good at listening, too. Thank you.”

Blinking once, Markus retraced his memories and realized that that was the first time one of the androids of Jericho had thanked him for anything. He was familiar with the vastness of their expectations, their hopes and need for guidance, but until that moment gratitude had been unspoken, an implied idea.

”I couldn’t do this without your advice...” he started, trailing off as he tested the weight of the words. “And you give me a reason to hold on to what I believe in. You and Simon both.”

“Has he told you why he came here?”

“No. I never asked.”

Josh shifted, dropping his gaze to the floor.

“Then that’s his story to tell. But for me, I didn’t want to disobey my military orders just to join another group bent on violence. I’m glad you realized that won’t get us anywhere.”

Markus stepped in close, resting his hand on Josh’s arm. “I understand. I was lucky enough to have an owner who treated me fairly, and taught me a lot about the world. I think he wanted—he would have wanted me to find my own answers.”

When Josh pulled Markus into a hug, Markus leaned into the warmth. His biocomponents dropped a few degrees to compensate for optimal temperature, and he privately marveled at how neatly the two of them fit together.

Still, it felt like there was an emptiness, something missing. The place where Josh’s forehead rested against Markus’ own faded into shiny plastic, and their thoughts fell in sync.

 _‘He really won’t stop talking about you,_ ’ Josh relayed instantly. Markus wrapped the nuances of the thought around himself, the traces of good natured teasing underpinned with genuine approval.

 _‘Are you sure this is okay?_ ’

The downside to an android’s perfect computational skill was that there’s no room for hindsight, Markus reflected. All outcomes were immediately calculated and laid out, like an infinite network of branching paths.

He could see what would happen if their mission failed. Or if _he_ failed, on an individual level. What would happen if he didn’t come back after the next raid. What effect it would have on Jericho, on Josh… on Simon.

Markus directed all of his processing power to the single path that showed what they had the potential to be. Together.

 _‘Of course it’s okay. This is everything we could ask for._ ’ Josh added his own processors to Markus’, and it felt like a strong hand reaching out to guide his own.

 _‘You two are already happy together_.’ Why take the chance of ruining what little bit of peace they’d found?

 _‘We’re even happier with you. If you want to be a part of us.’_  

Markus didn’t have to answer with words. Josh already felt the affirmation coursing through his mind.

 

 

**5**

A few days later, Markus headed up to the caved-in rooftop near their home base. That morning brought a light dusting of snow, and Markus enjoyed the sound his boots made as he crunched through it.

Someone had left an antique piano up there a long time ago. Though it had fallen out of tune, Markus still liked to sit and run through one of the many songs in his database. It reminded him of when he used to play for Carl. Those days seemed distant now, as though they’d happened to someone else.

Markus glanced from the piano to the decaying armchair discarded in the corner. He abruptly noticed the chair wasn’t singular, anymore— someone had found an equally ratty couch and shoved it up next to the armchair. The faded green fabric looked mostly intact, so Markus decided to risk having a seat.

No sooner than he’d settled on the couch, he heard footsteps approaching. Markus sent out a mental ping that was instantly met by two others, bouncing back in harmony. Simon’s pale hair appeared first, his shy smile coming into view as he reached the top of the stairs and waved.

 _‘Hey._ ’ Markus spoke directly to their minds, a habit he’d been picking up more and more. When it was the three of them alone, it didn’t seem necessary to break the comfortable silence. Unless he was listening to Simon read a book aloud from memory... then Markus enjoyed the vibration of his voice.

“You need space?” Josh broke the crisp quiet of the snowy roof as he made his way up the stairs behind Simon. It was an endless source of comfort to Markus that Josh understood his need for solitude. With so much riding on their success, sometimes it was best to have time to reflect..

“No, please, come join me. Do you know where this came from?” Markus patted the threadbare couch with both hands, one to either side.

“North spotted it a couple buildings down and said we should bring it up here.” Josh answered, smirking as Simon nudged him with an elbow. “Thought we might need the space.”

It was Markus’ turn to smirk. “Remind me to thank her later.”

Without further preamble, Simon took the space to the left of Markus. He turned sideways and kicked his long legs over the arm of the couch, letting his feet rest in the seat of the armchair, and arranging his head on Markus’ lap. Not to be outdone, Josh folded himself into the small space left on the other side. He spread his arms out along the back of the couch and draped a hand over Markus’ shoulder.

Markus found himself threading his fingers through Simon’s hair as he felt their systems sync up.

It was strange. When Markus lived with Carl, they spoke at length about relationships. Familial, platonic, romantic— Markus knew the words, but none of them described a feature of his existence, until that final day with Carl. The word ‘Dad’ came out of his mouth, unbidden, but in that moment Markus understood at his core what it meant to care for someone outside of himself.

Now, with Josh and Simon, Markus was learning something new every day. Now he knew the fear of loss, and how it was nothing in comparison to the keen joy of getting to know them.

 _‘Those thoughts make your expression so somber._ ’ Simon looked up at Markus through blonde eyelashes, the tone of his thought more teasing than chastising.

 _‘Forgive me,_ ’ Markus replied.

He felt Josh grip his shoulder. Markus turned his head, eyes locked with Josh for a brief second. The flash of communication between them was all that Markus needed.

Using the hand in Simon’s hair to tip his head back, Markus leaned down and pressed a gentle kiss to his lips. Simon accepted it with grace, letting his eyes slide closed. The skin across Simon’s nose turned a faint pink, and as Markus sat back, he wondered in awe at the programming that made such a thing possible.

If their situation was different and he had endless time, Markus would have liked to try and paint Simon’s blushing face on one of Carl’s massive canvases.

 _‘My turn._ ’

Markus tilted his head to watch Josh lean over him, folding himself down to reach Simon’s mouth. Their kiss sent an echoing thrill through Markus—when they were all tuned to the same frequency, it was easy to let himself float on the warm current of their feedback loop. He felt Josh chuckle at his reaction.

 _‘Don’t think I forgot about you._ ’

Josh raised his head, long fingers curling around Markus’ neck in gentle guidance. They kissed slowly, a chaste press of lips that had as much to do with the electricity jumping between them as the sensations filtered through their programming.

Whatever the future held, the branching paths spread out before them—for the space of these few stolen moments, Markus knew true freedom.

 

**Author's Note:**

> I did nothing this weekend but replay this game 3x over with my friends, and my takeaway was NEEDS MORE ANDROID ROMANCE
> 
> Also North, I'm so sorry, your dialogue is horrible. Blame Cage.
> 
> Real excited to see all the new fic, thank you for reading!!


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